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Reaping the whirlwind

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  • Reaping the whirlwind

    Reaping the whirlwind

    Published: Thursday | November 12, 2009


    Keith Noel, Contributor

    Etana, Tony Rebel, Bob Marley

    Buju Banton, Richie Spice, Burning Spear
    In the Caribbean, with its peculiar history, there is possibly no better window into our more recent social history than the works of the 'grass roots' artistes. So a close examination of reggae throws a light on to our understanding of our recent history.

    If we look at the works of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Culture, Tony Rebel, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Shabba Ranks, Derrick Morgan, Half Pint, the youngsters Etana, Richie Spice, Duane Stephenson and yes, the 'Gully' and the 'Gaza'.

    And this list is by no means exhaustive. There is nothing going on now that was not foreshadowed in the work of these people. And the modern ones are revealing what the present conditions are. We continue to ignore them at our peril.

    In the late 1960s when it became clear to working-class Jamaica that Independence had brought no release from poverty and oppression, it began. The 'Rude Bway' became a kind of folk hero. He was the man who stood up to 'Babylon', who lived 'above the law'. "Rudies don't fear no force" expressed the mythical Rude Bway who feared neither the policeman nor soldier. Brought before the court for gun shooting, ratchet using and bomb throwing, he declares that he is "tougher than tough, rougher than rough, strong like lion, we are iron". Derrick Morgan says "rudies are free!" before the court is adjourned.

    Anger

    We joined the world in praising Marley, forgetting that to him the rude boy was Good Good Rudie and that he sang a number of bitter protest songs - hitting out at the power structure of society. If you listen to Marley, you hear the voice of the people of his time, wailing in bitter anguish at their condition. You hear the anger boiling below the surface. It was not all One Love, One Heart. It was a feeling of having 'no chains around my feet but I'm not free'. He saw in Guiltiness the "big fish who always eat up the small fish. Woe, to the downpressor!". He spoke of seeing them "fighting for power, they're bribing with their guns and their money, trying to belittle our integrity and through political strategy they keep us hungry" Hunger and oppression was a motif. "You eat up all my corn", "dem belly full but we hungry" And he threatened violence: "We gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of the town", or as in Natty Dread "the battle will be hotter", because "a hungry mob is an angry mob". So "I feel like bombing a church".

    This anguished wail was echoed by Bob Andy in his I've Got to Go Back Home and the anger in his Fire Burning. Peter Tosh called for a hammer to hammer them down", because "they keep on holding me, squeezing me, fighting me, victimising me". All this after 400 Years "of the same brutality".

    This constant protest continued into the dancehall era of the '90s when people like Bounty Killer stated "poor people fed up how yuh system sheg up". In Defend de Poor he says that "night and day de youth dem a cry ... down in de ghetto is pure pain and pressure". Did no one hear the cries?

    Another thing that emerged in this era was the fascination with the gun. Did nobody notice that there was a series of songs that 'worshipped' the gun? One dj even had a gun engraved on his gold tooth! Gun Hawk is chilling in its praise of the new rudie who was now literally above the law. By this time the Gun Court had come and was about to go, and gun crimes escalated. What were the social measures that were put in place to counter this view that the gun was the best avenue to gain fortune and fame? This was well over 15 years ago!

    Then came the songs that showed that we were losing respect for human life. Informers were to die because, as Mr Vegas says Mi Mus Come a Road. "We must Overcome," says Mavado in a plea for solidarity among and sympathy for the poor. But he turns around and sings violent songs. Most terrifying could be Winner by Konshens which declares that life is worth nothing. All the persona wants is money and he will kill you if he wants what you have. This was written more than a year ago and became a hit in the dancehall. All the kids in the schools were singing it! Or maybe it was Sort dem Out by Demarco in which he promises the brutal killing of the man who has given evidence and made "the Don go a jail". And we ignored this.

    Worse, we have made no effort to promote, over these, the works of youngsters like Etana, Tarrus Riley, Richie Spice or Duane Stephenson. Just as we ignored Tony Rebel, Half Pint and Buju Banton. Are we that helpless?

    Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com

    http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...cleisure3.html
    "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
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